#871: Kim Lehman

Kim Lehman is a Republican National Committee member, former leader of the Iowa Right To Life Committee and associated with The John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute, and one of relatively few high-ranking Republicans who has supported the popular belief among certain groups of voters that Obama is a Muslim. Apparently, according to Lehman, Obama has told Muslims that he is one of them, referring to an August 2010 Cairo speech in which Obama did say the exact opposite – but opposite, the same, reality, opinion … they’re all the same, and if Lehman wants to believe that Obama is a Muslim despite the evidence, then he must be a Muslim: “The way he was approaching that speech was, 'Hey I’m one of you. I’m with you.' He didn't have to say that ... but he did,” Lehman tried to argue. She also claimed that Politico was being paid by the Obama administration to hide the truth.

Later Lehman called for revolution in response to the California Proposition 8 ruling, with an appositely incoherent rant.

She did not take a new term as RNC member in 2012, but there is nothing to suggest that she’s grown less crazy.

Diagnosis: Lehman, as so many delusional wingnuts, brings a fine mix of the crazy, the stupid, and the dishonest to the table. Her influence is probably relatively limited by now, but it’s dangerous to dismiss her completely.